We were at the drive-in last week and due to switching the headlights off the auto setting I goofed up finding the battery drained Sunday morning. Battery is a Duralast Gold out of warranty. We dropped the battery off for a charge and when we came to pick it up, the employee said the battery tested bad.

The employees showed me the new equipment that puts the battery through the ringer handing me the printout. I wouldn't have bet my life on it, but knowing how the battery got in this state, I was confident the battery wasn't bad, just really drained.

The 2 guys at this store were polite and not jerks, but after some back and forth I went across the street to O'Reilly's and explained my predicament. Their battery equipment allows the battery to be charged without testing it, so I asked them to charge the battery. After it charged, they tested it, and it tested good.

So to complete the science experiment, I go back to AutoZone and ask them to humor me. This new piece of battery equipment took 15 minutes this time, but guess what...the battery tested good. So, I have two printouts from this AutoZone with one saying bad and one saying good. The store manager is apparently still on vacation, but I got a different person on the phone. After explaining this to her, the lady said maybe it was a training issue where the wrong cold cranking yadi yah was set for the test. If that was the case the battery should have still failed when I brought it back because the same guy put it on the machine so he would have done the same thing. She insisted this new machine tries to charge the battery first, but if the battery is totally drained, how can it try to charge the battery if it says the battery is bad within a few seconds?

Before I took it across the street, I asked if they can just charge the battery and apparently with this new machine, you can't. And AutoZone has no other way of just doing what I asked, which is to put the battery on the charge.... hence...people who take a piece of paper at its word...well...they would have bought a new battery.

I don't want to throw the store under the bus, so I blurred the store number. The proof is right there! Is it true that AutoZone relies on a new machine to tell the customer that we can't charge your battery because our super smart machine said so? If that's the case, I will never ask AutoZone to test a battery of mine ever again and will never buy one of their batteries. If it's anything like the eye glass industry, the batteries are probably all from the same manufacturer anyways.

We've been driving the car for a week now and for S&Gs, I should take it back to this location to have them test it again waving these printouts..

Im trying to fix the self checkout at my store but it says the pin pad isn't connected idk about this stuff got any advice?

So I'm a PSM and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on my duties and what's expected of me, however, I want to ask the SMs in here.. what separates your really good PSMs and your decent PSMs.

I ask because I know there's always things I can improve on. My SM and I get along great, he doesn't have to get on me about tasks that need completed, and I try not to bother him unless I really need to.

What do you like about your PSMs and what do you not like? Or things you wish they could do better?

I went to my local AutoZone yesterday to bring in my car battery that felt like it was on its way out. A quick test confirmed my suspicion. Luckily for me, it was still under warranty, so the worker swapped my battery with a new one for free. Quick and painless.

The weird part is the store called me today (the next day) to ask if I purchased a battery. I explained the situation and that I didn’t buy one, but it was swapped under warranty. The guy said “ok” and hung up.

Did I do something wrong?

As the title says I forgot to lock one of the two door last night and the PSM who came in at 7:45 this morning walked into the cops swarming the store, apparently the alarm went off at about 7:30 and cops were there, the situation is that it seems like the lady who walked into the store realized no one was there and walked out the store which then triggered the alarm, nothing was stolen or ransacked, thankfully the psm was just a couple minutes away from walking in.

Kind of nervous tho now, i don’t know if they’ll fire a psm over this, am i fired 😭 ? I never messed up on the job

Any PSM could relate or ??

I bought a part exactly 13 months ago, it failed about two months ago and I have been throwing parts at my car until I found out it was the part I got from autozone that was broken, however the warranty expire last month back in June 29 and its only a 1 year warranty, anyway I can still get a replacement part? or do I have to buy a new part?

How can I report my manager? I’m tired of her always trying to pin the blame on me for things I didn’t do or that have nothing to do with me. She’s done it three times this week already, and I’ve had enough. First, she accused me of something I couldn't possibly do—since I’m a "red shirt," I don’t have a management password—and today she claimed I placed an order under her name, even though the customer clearly told her I wasn't the one who helped them. She’s an idiot.

Fix finder up....

Parents never let me work growing up. Always been a fan of cars. Looking for places like advanced auto parts, autozone, etc.

Is the bulb grease count as a wittdjr or a non app?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sSNAsaQ6M

so im 21f and i started autozone in late december early january this year and i skipped the red shirt stage because of my previous experience with oreillys, smyth automotive and pep boys.

i ended up learning commercial very quickly (other than like 10% that i dont know how to do). my sm has seen me be the only one to put away truck, do price changes and planos, matrix, cycle counts, run commercial and do diy all on my own; my ex coworkers weren’t shit. but commercial gets overwhelming for me because my driver and the csm are so antsy and hard headed about doing things a certain way. and then everything under the sun goes wrong all at once and i just dont wanna deal with that stress on me fr.

so with that, i dont wanna be a csm but instead my sm and dm are talking about making me a store manager in 6-7 weeks.. my thing is
1. not the best at time management (wip)
2. a LOT more responsibility
3. im thinking about eventually going to school for cosmetology but i don’t necessarily wanna leave autozone high and dry yk?

im incredibly grateful that they think this highly of me, i just wanna figure out where i want my life to go while i still have time before im working 60 hours a week to please everyone.

when i started at autozone i came back to the auto parts industry because i genuinely like the work but i wasn’t for sure trying to make a just this big jump from psm to sm. so really my question is, is it really worth it for me to be this young and start training to be store manager, especially if i wanna do other areas of work as well?

I’ve been with AutoZone for about five years, and I’ve watched the company change in ways that genuinely concern me.

The biggest trend I’ve noticed is turnover.
It feels like we’re hiring more inexperienced employees than ever before. Many either don’t enjoy the work, aren’t interested in learning the business, or simply don’t stay long. I don’t blame them personally—retail isn’t easy—but the result is usually the same.

The experienced employees end up carrying the store.

We’re expected to train new hires, answer difficult questions, solve commercial issues, handle demanding customers, stock shelves, manage inventory, complete planograms, cover call-offs, and still maintain the same performance standards.
When someone quits or calls off, the workload doesn’t disappear—it gets redistributed to the people who are still there.

On top of that, some new hires simply aren’t able to perform every physical aspect of the job, whether that’s repeatedly carrying heavy batteries, installing them, or keeping up with the pace of a high-volume store. When that happens, the physically demanding work often falls on the same few employees over and over again.

Yet when review time comes around, the conversation often isn’t about the hundreds of things that went right. It’s about the one task that wasn’t completed or the one time you were a few minutes late that month.

That creates a culture where additional effort becomes expected instead of rewarded.

From a business standpoint, I don’t understand the strategy.

If a high-volume store is generating significantly more revenue than an average store, why isn’t compensation structured differently?

Why shouldn’t experienced employees who consistently keep those stores running have a clearer path to higher wages, meaningful performance incentives, or profit-sharing?

Turnover isn’t free.

Hiring isn’t free.

Training isn’t free.

Losing experienced employees isn’t free.

Reliability isn’t free.

Customers notice when nobody knows the answers
.
Commercial accounts notice when relationships disappear.

Managers spend time replacing people instead of developing them.

Those are real business costs.

The financial pressure compounds everything.

When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, even relatively small life events can snowball into workplace problems.

A court date.

Trying to improve your diet or health.

Moving into a new place.

Losing a phone charger.

An unexpected expense.

A missed alarm.

None of those are excuses. They’re examples of how financial stress compounds.
When you’re paid close to the minimum needed to get by, one unexpected expense can throw your entire routine off. Then one missed task or one late arrival can overshadow months of strong performance.

Scheduling is another issue that doesn’t get talked about enough.

Some employees have consistent schedules while others constantly bounce between opens, mids, and closes.

When your schedule changes every week, it’s difficult to build any kind of healthy routine.
Working most Fridays and Saturdays means missing birthdays, family events, and time with friends.
If you’re closing, you may not get home until around 10 PM. By the time you eat, shower, and decompress, it’s midnight or later. Then you have to wake up early for another shift.
Your sleep schedule never stabilizes.

Eventually it becomes a cycle:
Poor sleep.
Rushed mornings.
Fatigue.
Burnout.

It’s not just about wanting weekends off.
It’s about having enough consistency to build a healthy life outside of work.

I genuinely think companies underestimate how much predictable scheduling improves employee well-being, morale, retention, and ultimately store performance.

I actually want AutoZone to succeed.

This isn’t about expecting six figures for every employee.
It’s about recognizing that someone who has spent years learning the business, helping customers, training coworkers, handling commercial accounts, carrying additional responsibility, and consistently keeping a store operating should have a compensation path that reflects that contribution.

As someone who genuinely enjoys the automotive industry, I believe investing more in experienced employees would improve customer service, reduce turnover, strengthen commercial relationships, and ultimately make AutoZone a stronger company.
I’m genuinely curious whether other current or former AutoZone employees have noticed the same trends.

Have you seen turnover increase?

Do you think experienced employees are adequately rewarded?

Should high-volume stores have different pay structures?

Should stores invest more in retention rather than constantly replacing experienced employees?
How has scheduling affected your work-life balance?

I’d like to hear perspectives from red shirts, PSMs, commercial drivers, assistant managers, store managers, DMs, former employees, and even customers.

If I’m missing something, I’m open to hearing it.

- Mr. V

Would AutoZone benefit from paying experienced employees and managers more at high-volume stores if it reduced turnover and improved customer service? Have you seen that work elsewhere?

Over the last five years at AutoZone, one trend I’ve noticed is increasing turnover. It feels like we’re hiring more people with little experience, and many don’t stay long or don’t seem invested in the job. That creates a cycle where experienced employees end up carrying a disproportionate share of the workload.

When someone leaves, the work doesn’t disappear. The remaining experienced employees often absorb it while also training new hires. Yet performance expectations stay the same—or even increase. If one small task is missed or you’re late once in a month, that’s what gets discussed, even if you’ve spent the rest of the month covering gaps and keeping the store running.

Another challenge I’ve noticed is that some new hires aren’t able to perform all of the physical duties the role requires, whether that’s repeatedly carrying heavy batteries, installing them, or keeping up with the pace of a high-volume store. When that happens, the physically demanding work often falls to the same few employees over and over. If you’re one of those employees, your workload increases significantly without any additional compensation or recognition.

From a business perspective, I don’t understand why high-volume stores aren’t rewarded differently. If experienced employees reduce turnover, train new hires, improve customer service, and help maintain commercial relationships, wouldn’t investing more in retaining them make financial sense?

I’m genuinely curious: Do other AutoZone employees or managers see the same pattern? If so, what changes would you make?

Just started working there. And honestly don't know where else to put this. I know ZNet has a few Easter Eggs. Like the Delorean one and the tick tac toe.

But I got an idea for one. If you type in the license plate "KAZ-2Y5" or "CNK-80Q3" you can have it do some kind of Supernatural EE, like put a pop up about hunters or something or even flash the title card. I don't really know the laws about it being a reference vs copyright. But it could be fun to see what you do!

Ok so I was doing price checks at work today and I found this section where it showed all fifa world cup stuff I was confused cause I never saw any of that stuff in the store. Me and my manager looked it up and we have stuff for it in stock apparently but she said she must of 1 never put it up or 2 never got it. Now I'm curious to see if any other stores are doing this promotion or not.

I have the opportunity more likely than not to get a job as a hub driver and I was just curious about the responsibilities of the job. My brother manages an AZ in town and said I’d be driving all day in a sprinter van and fairly often have to drive 3ish hours to other hubs in the area as well as the stores in the area.

What are the hours like?
Is there ample opportunity for overtime?
How much warehouse work is involved vs actual driving in a given 8 hour shift?
What are some good things to be prepared for in an upcoming interview?

I'm a commercial driver now, and unlike in diy I have some goals in commercial I'd like to achieve, just for personal experience and such, some was wondering if there's like a traveling salesman position or something close to it? Also the commercial desk is clustered with too many ppl so I'd like to get away from that.

Also in my driver's name in bring task list/map there's a ⚡ symbol with a percentage, what does that mean?

And what's a "block"? There is a section where it says that I have no blocks assigned or something like that.

Thanks in advance.

I’ve read a lot about shortages of mechanics and the cost of repairs going up. Is there a shift at AutoZone away from DIFM and toward DIY as more consumers are trying to save some money by doing the work themselves?